1925 Biography - Edwin V. Whitaker

Edwin Vignes Whitaker, M. D. As a specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, Dr. Whitaker has built up a substantial and representative practice in the capital city of Baton Rouge, his office being in the Reymond Building.

Dr. Whitaker was born at Baton Rouge, September 29, 1889. and his personal popularity and professional success indicate that in his case there can be no application of the scriptural aphorism that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country." The Whitaker family has been established in the United States since the early Colonial era, the original representatives having settled in South Carolina upon coming from England. Dr. John Whitaker, grand father of him whose name introduces this review became one of the leading physicians and surgeons of East Baton Rouge Parish, and in ministering with earnest stewardship to the afflicted in the yellow fever epidemic in 1878 he virtually sacrificed his life, for he contracted the dread disease, from the ravages of which he died in 1878 at The Plains, this parish. His son, Mills Whitaker, was born at The Plains, as the name has been best known, in East Baton Rouge Parish, and the date of his nativity was February 2, 1855. There he was reared to young manhood, and he then came to the City of Baton Rouge and identified himself with mercantile enterprise, in which he rose to be one of the leading merchants of his native parish. After 1919 he here lived virtually retired, as one of the loyal and honored citizens of Louisiana's fair old capital city, and here his death occurred on the 9th of March, 1922. He was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the democratic party, and he and his wife were zealous members of the First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge. Mrs. Whitaker was born at Waterloo Pointe Coupee Parish, in 1871, her maiden name having been Marie Vignes, and her death having occurred July 19, 1891. Mrs. Whitaker was a descendant of representatives of the old French nobility that colonized Louisiana, the lineage tracing back to the Duc de Taillepied, of Rouen, who opposed William the Conqueror at the historic battle of Hastings, for which he was thereafter exiled to the island Guernsey, in the English Channel.

Dr. Edwin V. Whitaker, the only child of his parents, profited by time advantages of the Baton Rouge public schools, in which he continued his studies, until he had completed the work of his junior year in the high school. Thereafter he continued, the studies of his sophomore year in the Louisiana State University, and he next gave two years study in the medical department of the University of Louisville, in the Kentucky metropolis. He then transferred to the medical department of the University of Maryland, in the city of Baltimore, in this institution he was graduated in 1912, with degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thereafter he did effective post-graduate work under the private preceptorship of professors in the medical school of great Johns Hopkins University, in the same city where he specialized in study of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In the same specialty he completed also a six months' post-graduate in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and since establishing himself in practice in Baton Rouge, in the year 1916, he has more than mere local reputation of authoritative order in this special field of professional work is an active member of the East Baton Rouge Medical Society and the Louisiana State Society, is a popular member of the Baton Rouge Golf and Country Club, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. is a democrat in political allegiance, and is a communicant of St. James Episcopal Church. He is the owner of the attractive old homestead of his parents at 515 St. Hypolite Street, but has gained no chatelaine for the same, as he still permits his name to remain enrolled on the roster of eligible bachelors in his native parish.

For all time shall honor attach to the name of Dr. Whitaker for the fine service of patriotism which he rendered in the World war. He was one of the very first to volunteer, and was almost immediately assigned to service in France, he having been a member of the second contingent of the American Expeditionary Forces in overseas service and having remained in France two years. He received commission as captain in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, participated in the battle of Messine Ridges, the first battles of Paschendale and Cambrai, and also in the second battle of the Somme, in which last named engagement he was severely wounded by a German shell. Thereafter he was confined to the hospital five months, and after his return to his native land he received his honorable discharge at Camp Dix, New Jersey, in September, 1919. The Doctor has four chevrons to indicate the distinction of his service in the greatest conflict ever known in the annals of history. He is a member of Nicholson Post No. 38, American Legion.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 84-85.